They are also happening at St. Bede's behind All India Radio, or at the YMCA in Nandanam. Or at the CPT-promoted arena in Taramani.
These are the battles of city school-level cricket. I spent an hour last week at the YMCA grounds. You take a left turn on Chamiers Road at its western end (metres before it joins Mount Road near the Thevar statue), and wind through the quiet CIT Colony ( where one of Madras doughty environment campaigners - O. T. Ravindran - used to live - I must share his story some day).
The ground is not picturesque. I would rate the Taramani, the IIT-Madras and the Presidency College grounds as grounds with character. (If you have had great stories about cricket at these grounds, share them here!).
But on that Friday (March 2) afternoon the temperature was rising.
San Thome versus St. Bede's in the under-15 final of the prestigious TNCA annual tourney for Chennai schools.
Now, one could write a little book on the San Thome vs. St. Bede's rivalries in schools cricket. I am sure you have a few to share.
This was Day Two.
90 overs a side match. San Thome had slipped and recovered on Day One. St. Bede's had also had hiccups and close to lunch, was on tenter-hooks. The situation got worse. Two batsmen played loosely and San Thome was cock a hoop.
Clearly, the first innings would decide the winner.
St. Bede's coaches didn't like what the two boys did on the turf. Tension. How do under-15 boys handle such tension?
Even the delicious sambhar rice, chapatis and curd rice did not water down the tension.
The lead could go either way. Everybody was too serious. Hot. Tense. Didn't even talk. Gobbled up the lunch.
For an onlooker, a close one like me, this was exciting. And it peaked when the teams went back to the middle.
And in minutes, San Thome wrapped up St. Bede's.
Though the second innings was played, the match was called off at tea. And the Somasundaram trophy was awarded to San Thome by the senior scorers.
It beats me. A schools cricket final should be a glorious affair. Perhaps a finale on a weekend so that parents, friends and school boys land up at the grounds to cheer, cry, scream and celebrate a final. A victory. And then, a nice party.
Where were the TNCA officials?
Why didn't we have a great cricketer as chief guest at the finale?
3 comments:
Thought you might find this blog interesting...as I came across your coverage on Santhome Bedes Rivalry...
I was a cricketer in the 80s played and captained Santhome in my final year...
My memoir of chennai cricketers and the many Santhome-Bedes legends are blogged here...
http://chennaicricketers.blogspot.com/
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Tamil Entrepreneurs like Ananda Krishnan of Malaysia who has Sri Lankan roots whose parents migrated from Jaffna, Northern Province, Sri Lanka for a long period. Tamils have a rivalry with Kashmiris, etc. Arif Mohamed Khan the current Governor of Kerala is a Kashmiri who hails from Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India who is hated by Tamils because he calls Tamils as ''evil tribe'' ''traitor'' ''puppet tribe'' etc. India is the most racist nation in history. Singapore Tamils led by S. Iswaran (Sundararajan Iswaran) a Controversial Cabinet Member who is accused of bribery and swindling boycotts Indian Bollywood movies because it's disturbing. And K-Drama is watched by Singapore Tamils instead of Bollywood movies from India, Sri Lanka's neighbor. Malaysia Tamils and Singapore Tamils hate Bollywood because it distorts their mindset.
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